US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. July 30, 2025. (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
As we approach Mother’s Day, it seems appropriate to review what Kennedy and the Trump administration have done to improve women’s lives. After all, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pushed his Make America Healthy Again mantra.
Kennedy told Katie Miller in January, “You should do your own research.” He then added, “This idea that you should trust the experts—a good mother doesn't do that.”Besides the heavy burden of guilt this lays on mothers, who are just trying to do their best, this comment lays an unreasonable expectation on moms. How are they supposed to work, cook, clean, supervise homework and tend hurt feelings, but also do sophisticated research on a variety of problems? Who has the bandwidth to do all that? As this week’s “Whopper of the Week” from Defend Public Health notes, there are many factors beyond the control of the single mom that come into play in making a decision. That’s why it does, in fact, take a village and considerable expertise to best advise parents and the public on specific decisions.
Here are some of Kennedy’s notable actions:
Last fall, President Trump caused a bit of a panic by falsely claiming that Tylenol use in pregnancy was linked to autism and urging women not to take it. While Kennedy was a bit more circumspect, he said the data were “very suggestive” that acetaminophen causes autism. Last month, during a Congressional hearing, he called for a recent study that did not find a link to be retracted.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said, in response, “Acetaminophen is well studied and proven to be safe for use in pregnancy, and is one of the only medicines available to pregnant women for pain relief and treatment of headaches and fevers.” They added, “Failing to treat medical conditions that warrant the use of acetaminophen, such as maternal fever, persistent headaches, and pain, can be dangerous. When left untreated, these conditions can in some cases create severe risk of harm or death for the pregnant person and the fetus.”
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Last spring, although FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and his then-deputy Vinay Prasad listed pregnancy as a high-risk condition, Kennedy excluded healthy pregnant women and children from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine boosters.
Several professional organizations, including ACOG and the American Academy of Pediatrics, pushed back, saying the decision ignored the evidence supporting vaccination. Kennedy sowed considerable confusion, and vaccines became much harder to access. The CDC reported, “As of Sept. 2, 2025 there have been 9,800 cases of Covid-19-related cases of Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children in the U.S., including 80 MIS-C deaths reported to the CDC.”
Kennedy has moved to drastically reduce the number of childhood vaccinations recommended by the CDC.
To do so, he fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices last June and replaced them with hand-picked members. Although a judge ruled against that and his new policies, six vaccines were recently dropped by Kennedy anyway.
They include protections against rotavirus, influenza, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B (HBV).
Earlier, they had already recommended against the birth dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine. This could lead to at least 1,400 preventable hepatitis B infections among children, 300 excess cases of liver cancer, 480 preventable deaths, and over $222 million in excess healthcare costs, for each year the revised recommendation is in place.
The CDC noted that the 2024–25 influenza season was particularly deadly, with 280 deaths, the highest number reported since child deaths became nationally notifiable in 2004, except for the 2009–10 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic. Approximately one-half of children who died from influenza had an underlying medical condition, and 89% were not fully vaccinated. The CDC authors concluded, “All persons aged ≥6 months who do not have contraindications should receive an annual influenza vaccination.”
No data has changed that would have altered the long-standing recommendation for vaccination. Note that because of the controversy over Kennedy’s ACIP’s membership changes and biases, many professional societies are recommending that patients and physicians follow the old immunization schedule, now maintained by the AAP.
Dr. George C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, described the changes as “health policy malpractice at the highest level and must be reversed before children and families suffer.”
The country has seen a surge in measles, initially centered in Texas and South Carolina, with 2,283 cases last year and a record-setting 1,281 already this year. Despite three deaths in Texas, Kennedy did not urge measles vaccination. Instead, he touted Vitamin A to treat the infection, resulting in hospitalizations for liver toxicity instead.
We will likely see cases of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis in the future. This is a fatal brain inflammation that occurs years after measles infection.
Most recently, a study suggested this occurs in 1 in 609 unvaccinated babies.
While not a vaccine, Vitamin K has long been given to newborns to prevent bleeding. Recently, parents, having done their own research, have been refusing the injections, resulting in babies dying from easily-prevented bleeding into their brains. Rep. Kim Schrier, D-WA, asked Kennedy to reassure parents that Vitamin K is safe, and he refused.
The Trump administration is proposing to cut $1 trillion from Medicaid, which covers over 40% of births in the U.S., as well as prenatal and postpartum care.
The U.S. ranks 55th, with the highest maternal mortality rate of any wealthy country—almost twice that of others with comparable economies. While the global rates have been decreasing, ours have not.
Even more disturbingly, pregnant Black women are over three times more likely to die than White women. Most of these deaths are post-partum, stressing the need for continued health care after delivery. CDC data shows that 87% of these deaths are preventable. There’s a disproportionate impact on Black infants.
Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) recently called out the attacks on Black maternal health research, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives, budget cuts, and cancellations of NIH grants researching Black maternal health.
The increasing restrictions on abortions, even when a mother’s life is endangered, make pregnancy a riskier undertaking, particularly in Texas, Idaho, S. Dakota, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
Access to contraceptives has been under attack since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court. Attacks continue, including restricting emergency contraceptives and requiring parental consent. Clarence Thomas has invited a challenge to the constitutional right to birth control. Budget threats also threaten access to contraceptives.
“If you want mom to be happy and healthy, she needs access to contraception so she can choose if and when to get pregnant!" Miriam Rabkin, MD, MPH, succinctly observed.
Most recent is the attack on access to mifepristone, with a ruling prohibiting telehealth and mail-order access to the drug. Last year, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced a full-scale review of the drug’s safety, although it has been used by more than 7.5 million women over 25 years. He had not supported the FDA’s outright banning of mifepristone. Some speculate that this is contributing to Makary’s likely ouster this week.
Kennedy has also attacked transgender families, announcing last year that any hospital that provided gender-affirming care for minors would no longer receive Medicaid or Medicare funding. This decision was overturned, with the Judge decrying Robert F Kennedy Jr’s “wanton disregard” for the law. “Secretary Kennedy’s unlawful declaration harmed children,” U.S. District Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai wrote. “This case illustrates that when a leader acts without authority and in the absence of the rule of law, he acts with cruelty.”
Summarizing Kennedy’s impact for this Mother’s Day review, Rabkin described his effect as “a disaster for the nation's health in general.” She added, “If we are focusing on moms, we shouldn't forget the devastating impact of restricting access to reproductive health services, including obstetric care, contraception and abortion."
Defend Public Health offers their “People’s Health Platform” instead of the administration’s vision. This would include:
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